Ice skating rinks, locker rooms, weight rooms and the like require floor surfaces that provide excellent traction, prevent skate blades and cletes from dulling and which are shock absorbing, water-proof and long wearing. To meet these requirements, molded rubber floor tiles are frequently used. In certain advantageous forms, these tiles are provided with interlocks along the edges and are simply laid down side by side being interconnected by the interlocks. Once the tiles are laid down the interlocks assure non-slip adhesion.
The use of individual interlocking floor tiles permits the construction of a surface covering which may be easily adapted to different sized and shaped areas. Moreover, the tiles may be provided with interlock designs which greatly simplify installation and alleviate the need for adhesives. As a result, such floor coverings can be quickly and easily laid down and removed when necessary. In addition, the individual tiles can be easily rearranged to conform to changes in layout.
For certain end uses, conventional floor tiles of this type can present problems in that moisture can accumulate under the tiles. Wet ice skates and drippings from locker room showers result in water seeping down the seams between contiguous tiles to the floor below. With conventional floor tiles, accumulated moisture becomes trapped and cannot easily evaporate. In other words, the bottom surfaces of these floor tiles do not provide sufficient air circulation to facilitate moisture evaporation.
As its basic objective, the present invention seeks to provide an interlocking floor tile of the type described above with novel and improved features to ventilate the bottom of the floor tile and thereby hasten moisture evaporation.
Generally, the new ventilated, interlocking floor tile comprises a heavy, substantially solid edge region. The edge region is provided with a plurality of interlocks consisting of triangular-shaped projecting elements of the edge region and the dove-tailed slats formed there-between. The projecting elements of each tile are aligned to be inserted into adjacently positioned dove-tailed slots of a contiguous tile. The solid edge region adds strength to the floor tiles in the junction area between tiles. This is advantageous since the edge regions of each tile lack the support afforded by the adjacent areas of the tile found in the inner regions thereof and are therefore subjected to the greatest stress and wear. Moreover, the triangular-shaped edge projecting elements form a firm interlock resisting separation of contiguous tiles and need maximum strength to resist this stress.
The heavy, substantially solid edge margin defines a cavity on the back side of the tile. Typically, the cavity may have a height of approximately one-third the thickness of the tile. To particular advantage this relatively shallow cavity is constructed to provide an open air space to facilitate moisture evaporation while at the same time affords an inner tile region of sufficient strength to resist wear and tear. The cavity is provided with a plurality of knob-like projections extending from the cavity wall to the floor level. To advantage, these knob-like projections support the floor surface of the tile while providing the air space within the cavity. Moreover, the combination of cavity-and-knob back structure adds resiliency to the tile thereby providing a greater cushioning action. The improved cushioning action at the floor covering increases pedestrian comfort as well as increasing the shock-absorbing capacity thereof to help prevent injuries due to falls.
In accordance with the present invention, the interlocks of the heavy edge region of the tiles interconnect sufficiently tightly to assure a secure connection between contiguous tiles. However, a thin spacing is left between tiles and a plurality of ventilating grooves extend from the cavity to the thin spacing, accommodating the flow of air to and from the cavity and facilitating moisture evaporation. Moreover, the corners of the triangular-shaped projecting elements are rounded off to widen the spacing between tiles, facilitating air circulation without interfering with the interlock function.
With the foregoing and additional objects in view, this invention will now be described in more detail, and other objects and advantages hereof will be apparent from the following description, the accompanying drawings, and appended claims.